FRESNO, CA — Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced John Wayne Wyatt, 31, of Bakersfield, to two and a half years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute marijuana. Wyatt pleaded guilty on November 29, 2010.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen A. Servatius is prosecuting the case

According to facts discussed at the sentencing hearing, Wyatt was a member of the Board of Directors for Nature’s Medicinal, a business engaged almost exclusively in distributing marijuana. Wyatt had been taken into custody on May 16, 2011 for violating the terms of his pretrial release in relation to a recent state marijuana arrest.

Four other Bakersfield defendants have been sentenced after pleading guilty: Timothy Glenn Doolittle, 42, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and five years of supervised release; Jennifer Diane Brown, 37, was sentenced to a year in prison and three years of supervised release; John Shanks, 62, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release; and Israel Cavazos, 38, was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Jonathan M. Chapman, 31, of Bakersfield, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute marijuana and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 20, 2011. Two other defendants are awaiting trial.